1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a search system for search and retrieval of information from a database and for updating of the database.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventional database systems generally employ a single general purpose computer to perform all actions associated with the search and retrieval of information from the database. In such systems the computer may also serve other general timesharing tasks for users besides those of accessing the database. This can lead to delayed responses from the system for both the database users and the general users of the system.
Additionally there exist distributed database systems which are generally networks or general purpose computers communicating over a network such as ethernet. Again, these systems suffer the same problems with response time due to sharing of single processors for several tasks and the additional overhead of network communications. They do have advantage in that the database can be distributed between widely separated nodes if required. However, in a centralized environment the distributed database systems do not find application.
Multi-processor system concepts have been discussed for many years. The gains in the last few years of VLSI technology allowing high-speed processors with a high degree of operational capability to be placed in very small packages has enabled the development of such systems. There are commercial systems which employ multiple processors connected in a variety of topologies. One such example is described by Hillis, "The Connection Machine", Scientific American, June, 1987. The "connection machine" described by Hillis is a parallel processing computer system having 65,536 small processors, each having a local memory and a communications network to allow communication between any of the processors. The system is designed for high-speed image processing, modeling of physical problems and other mathematical problems which benefit from parallel processing. The "connection machine" is designed to solve general problems and may be configured dynamically.